By Monday Eze
Pursuant to the radical commitment of Governor Francis Nwifuru's administration to accountability, the Ebonyi State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters has launched a performance assessment tour of all the 64 Development Centres in Ebonyi State. The tour which was tagged, "Accountability Tour" involves critical inspection and assessment of infrastructural and human capital development projects done by the respective Development Centres.
Speaking to newsmen in his office before the kick-off of the Accountability Tour, the Ebonyi State commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Uchenna Stephen Igwe stated that the purpose of the tour was to further enforce the flagship commitment of Builder Nwifuru's Ebonyi People's Charter of Needs administration to accountability by determining whether the funds given to the respective Development Centres were judiciously used to develop the area.
In Hon. Igwe's words: "We are here to commence another round of project tour of Development Centres in Ebonyi State. In this tour, we shall be doing more than project inspection. We shall do a comparative analysis of the projects by comparing the projects with the funds received by the Development Centres. This will help us assess or rate the coordinators accordingly. Beyond this, we shall equally assess the relationship between the respective coordinators and both the workers on one hand and the people of the area.
"Recall that accountability is the livewire of Governor Nwifuru's administration. The long list of quality projects which stand this administration out were achieved through prudent management of resources. Recall that the Governor had approved accountability and anti-corruption seminar for cordinators and management staff of all Development Centres where resource persons drawn from ICPC and FIRS trained them on financial procedures, fiscal discipline and accountability. This tour is undertaken to further drive home Ebonyi State Government's zero-tolerance for corruption and poor governance to the grassroots."
When asked what he expected to see at the development centres, Hon. Igwe replied that he expected to see credible projects, functional democracy and some cases of poor performance. The ebullient commissioner promised to report his findings to the Governor of Ebonyi State for further directives.
In the commissioner's entourage were selected journalists from audio, print and audiovisual media platforms. The Ebonyi State Government's accountability tour is expected to refire the zeal of diligent ambassadors of Governor Nwifuru at the grassroots; and expose the indolent ones among them. In all, the accountability tour will likely catalyze the overdue rejig of the Ebonyi People's Charter of Needs administration ahead of the council and 2027 general elections.
